Flagstone Re announces completion of Montana Re catastrophe bond

30th November 2009 - Author: Artemis

Flagstone Re has just released a press release announcing the completion of its Montana Re Ltd. U.S. hurricane and earthquake catastrophe bond. As we reported last week the deal completed at $175m in value (up from the initial amount of $120m that Flagstone started marketing the transaction at). As ever, full details on this transaction are available in our Deal Directory. A copy of the press release from Flagstone Re is below.

HAMILTON, Bermuda–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 30, 2009– Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Limited (NYSE:FSR) announced today that Flagstone Réassurance Suisse SA, has purchased three years of fully collateralized retrocessional coverage from Montana Re Ltd. (“Montana Re”), a special purpose reinsurer established in the Cayman Islands. Montana Re was formed as a program structure enabling further issuance of additional series of notes in the future.

Montana Re offers Flagstone protection on its reinsurance portfolio through two separate tranches, utilizing a PCS index trigger with state and peril-specific personal and commercial payout factors. Montana Re has issued USD $100 million of Series 2009–1, Class A Principal-at-Risk Variable Rate Notes due December 7, 2012 and USD $75 million of Series 2009-1, Class B Principal-at-Risk Variable Rate Notes due December 7, 2012 to collateralize its obligations under the retrocession agreements. Risk analysis for the transaction was performed by Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (“RMS”). David Brown, Flagstone CEO, commented: “We are very pleased with the outcome of this transaction. Access to the capital markets in transactions such as this helps us to optimize returns for our owners and enhance security for our clients. The multi-year nature of the coverage allows us certainty in an important aspect of our business plan over the coming years.”

Mark Byrne, Flagstone’s Chairman, added: “The cat bond marketplace has been challenged to find index-based trigger structures acceptable to the credit rating agencies for capital relief, and also to find collateral structures which provide acceptable LIBOR returns while overcoming limitations of earlier deals. Montana Re’s design is at the innovative end of the market in both respects.”

Peter Nakada, Managing Director of RMS Risk Markets, commented: “This transaction was one of the most efficient transactions we have worked on to date, thanks to the combined modeling expertise of Flagstone Re and the RMS team. We look forward to working with Flagstone on similar transactions in the future.”